Nancy was born August
10, 1828 in Erie County Pennsylvania. She was the only daughter of
Stephen and Nancy Winchester. When the younger Nancy was four-years-old
the Winchesters were visited in Erie by two Mormon missionaries, John F.
Boynton and Evan M. Greene. Nancy’s parents and older brother,
Benjamin, were soon baptized.

The following year,
the Winchesters moved to Kirtland, Ohio to be near others who shared their
faith. Following Mormon practice, Nancy was probably baptized when
she turned eight- years of age.

By 1842 the Winchesters
had spent time in Missouri and were now settled in Nauvoo, living in the
“third
ward”. In May of that year, Nancy joined the Female Relief Society
where she served on committees with the charter “to search out the poor
and suffering-To call on the rich for aid and thus as far as possible relieve
the wants of all.”

Nancy’s marriage to
Joseph is undocumented, although according to Mormon Church Historian Andrew
Jenson, Nancy married Joseph sometime before his death in June of 1844.
Nancy would have been fourteen or fifteen years old.

A few months after
Joseph Smith’s death, Nancy and another six of Joseph’s wives married Heber
C. Kimball. Since the temple had not been completed when Nancy married
Joseph, she was re-sealed to him in 1846 in the near complete, but dedicated,
Nauvoo temple. Her husband “for time”, Heber C. Kimball stood
proxy for Joseph Smith in this sealing.

Nancy immigrated to
Utah in 1849. Several years later she received a patriarchal blessing
from John Smith. She was blessed, “to heal the sick, cast out
devils, and raise the dead, if necessary.”